The London Wetland Centre is the first project of its kind in the world - more than 40 hectares of wetlands created from a disused reservoir in the heart of a capital city. It offers hundreds of thousands of visitors the chance to see rare and beautiful wetland wildlife just a short distance from central London. It brings the countryside to London and is a haven of tranquillity for both wildlife and people.
The centre is internationally renowned as a conservation success story and an inspiration to other conservation projects the world over. The creation of this site and its habitats realised the dream of WWT founder Sir Peter Scott, who always had a vision for a truly urban nature reserve.
The 2,500 sqm visitor centre was constructed from sustainable materials and located at the public entrance to the wetlands. It incorporates exhibition and display spaces, a glass-walled observatory, lecture theatre, shop, gallery, restaurant and café within the visitor centre design. There are also multi-purpose areas that are available for visitor focused events, educational use and private hire. A Discovery Centre was built to deliver education programmes, and several multi-storey hides were constructed to give panoramic views over the wetland and provide opportunities for wildlife watching.The outdoor section was designed as a mosaic of wildlife habitats (grazing marsh, reedbeds, lagoons, scrapes, pools), trails with interpretation, and activity areas.
The London Wetland Centre was re-notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 2002 on account of its nationally important population of wintering Shoveler and Gadwall; and its outstanding assemblage of breeding birds associated with open waters and their margins. Since opening to the public in 2000 these habitats have become home to an incredible range of birds, amphibians, mammals, dragonflies and damselflies, other insects, and over 450 plant taxa and 200 macro-fungi.
Today over 18,000 school children visit the centre each year, with the summer term regularly operating at full capacity. Annual visitor numbers exceed 170,000.
“London Wetlands Centre is the ideal model for how humankind and the natural world may live side by side in the 21st century” Sir David Attenborough
BBC Countryfile Magazine Award 2012 - Favourite Nature Reserve
The Waterways Renaissance Awards 2004 - Heritage & Conservation Award – Winner
Tourism for Tomorrow 2000 - Global Winner for Sustainable Tourism
Silver Unicorn Award, British Guild of Travel Writers for UK 2000 - Best New Tourist Attraction
RICS Award for Regeneration 2000
1、 Visitor centre design and masterplan
2、 Interpretation planning, construction and installation
3、 Habitat design and creation
1、 Bird watching
2、 Observatory, tower and waterside café in London wetland center
WWT Consulting was appointed by the World Bank as part of the Metro Colombo Urban Development Project to provide specialist urban wetland management and planning support.
The Metro Colombo Region contains a complex of natural wetlands that provide crucial benefits that are fundamental to maintaining quality of life and economic prosperity in the city. However, the wetlands are under threat due to infilling and pollution with 40% having been lost since 1980. To better understand the importance of these urban wetlands in supporting well-being within the city, WWT Consulting together with the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation & World Bank carried out a comprehensive assessment of wetland services and how these wetlands contribute to long-term strategic planning for a resilient metro Colombo.
The work determined that the wetlands acted as crucial natural infrastructure providing: flood protection (the loss of all wetlands would result in a 1 in 100 year flood level increase by 1.8m flooding much of the city causing widespread disruption and damage); climate modification by reducing high air temperatures; removal of air pollutants caused by traffic pollution; food security to the urban population particularly poorer groups; carbon storage; water treatment; and recreation, tourism and education opportunities.
WWT Consulting advice and planning support has led to the establishment of a dedicated government Wetland Management Division and the declaration of the wetland areas as non-development zones. We have also trained key government departments in wetland management and helped design two pilot wetland visitor centres to help encourage safe public access for recreation and education.
1、 Wetland ecosystem service assessment
2、 Natural infrastructure assessment, planning and management advice
3、 Natural resource governance and planning advice
4、 Public green/blue space design and operation advice
5、 Stakeholder consultation and assessment
6、 Training in wetland management and visitor facility design and operation
Beddenga Wetland Park
Tongli National Wetland Park has been described as a piece of jade in the Yangtze River Delta. 1,142.70ha park is situated to the northeast of Tongli Ancient Town in Wujiang District. It consists of 920.ha of wetland area that includes natural freshwater lakes, marshes, wet woodland and rivers as well as human‐made reservoirs and ponds. The aim of the project was to deliver a wetland and visitor concept for the park, integrating the needs of visitors with those of the species and habitats. Opportunities for improvements included improving access and facilities to increase visitor numbers, wetland creation and restoration for key species and to integrate a range of low impact wetland experiences such as bird watching, walking trails, tower hide and interpretation for a new visitor centre and woodland trail.
1、 Working with Tongli Ancient Town, WWT Consulting developed concept and detailed designs for wetland restoration and creation for Tongli National Wetland.
2、 For the visitor facilities, WWT Consulting also produced a graphic style and interpretation and education plan.
Inside the visitor center
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